Big guns at the Battle of Craney Island

On view at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, this 18-pound naval gun weighs 4,700 pounds. The American defenders at Craney Island mounted one of these guns in tandem with two 24-pounders.

On view at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, this 18-pound naval gun weighs 4,700 pounds. The American defenders at Craney Island mounted one of these guns in tandem with two 24-pounders. (Courtesy of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum)

Though far smaller in size and armed with far fewer guns, the 15 American gunboats that attacked HMS Junon of Newport News Point on the night June 19, 1813 may have had an advantage in the size of their guns, many of which were 24- and 32-pounders rather than the 18-pounders that were the standard on such British frigates at the Junon.

That same advantage in range and cailber played a decisive role in the victories scored by America's super frigates over their Royal Navy counterparts in the early months of the war. So when Gosport Navy Yard Commandant John Cassin ordered his gunboats to attack the 38-gun Junon, the odds that the mosquito fleet brought into battle may not have been good. But they were far from lopsided, especially with superior training and firing rate that had been demonstrated in the frigate battles by American gun crews.

No wonder that Cassin reportedly sailed and/or rowed from the Elizabeth River in his captain's gig to get a better look at the battle, which I describe in today's story.

That same question of gun tubes brings me to the defense of Craney Island, where the relatively small American gun battery included one 18-pounder and two 24-pounder dispatched from the armanent of the U.S. Frigate Constellation. Compared to the four 6-pound guns manned by the militia volunteers of the Portsmouth Light Artillery, these large-caliber naval guns were behemoths. And they completely outclassed the realtively small field guns and boat guns used in the June 22 assault by the British.

Throw in the expert marksmanship demonstrated by the American gun crews and you have a trio of pretty deadly weapons -- and at least part of the explanation for why the British, whose big ship guns were forced to stand out of range because of uncertainty over the shoals, were so badly beaten when they attempted to storm the island.

That's why I have so much new respect for the 18-pounder on display at the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, where this rare surviving gun from the deck of the Constellation ranks as one of the region's most evocative artifacts from the War of 1812. It's also why I've been thinking about the enterprise and determination of the gun crews who moved these big tubes from one end of the island to the other at the last moment.